Southbridge annexation bill fizzles in Senate

Garden City's prospects of annexing Southbridge absorbed a crippling blow on Tuesday as state Sen. Lester Jackson announced he would not support a bill authorizing local votes on the proposal.

The decision means respective referendums will not take place this summer in Garden City and the sprawling subdivision, yet an ongoing petition drive leaves open the chance of annexation.

Currently in unincorporated Chatham County, the 1,400-acre Southbridge development has fielded overtures from Garden City, Savannah and Pooler since early last year.

The fizzled dual-referendum legislation, HB 1495, was introduced April 12 in the General Assembly by state Rep. Bob Bryant. Jackson, the lone holdout among local delegates, said the waning legislative session afforded inadequate time to consider the measure's consequences.

The bill reached the Senate on April 20; Tuesday marked the penultimate day in the 2010 session.

"With such a short time to consider its full ramifications on the various communities represented in Chatham County as a whole and Senate District 2 in particular, I cannot support the legislation at this time," Jackson said in a late-afternoon news release.

Disappointment in Garden City

Among suitors, Garden City has long been the most aggressive, and in March, the Southbridge Homeowners Association officially endorsed its annexation proposal.

Brian Johnson, city manager of Garden City, spent Tuesday in Atlanta. Jackson, he said, had been aware of the pending bill since early March.

"It's disappointing, frustrating and infuriating that one state legislator in Atlanta is able to play God over the democratic process," he said. "This is a unilateral decision made by Sen. Jackson. He wants to be the final arbitrator. That's frustrating."

Bryant was equally vexed.

"I'm very disappointed. I tried to encourage him to support the bill," Bryant said, adding that although he shared some of Jackson's concerns - such as possibly diluting Garden City's minority population - "I was willing to let the people decide whether they wanted it or not, rather than me."

Concerns aired in Savannah

In recent months, officials in Savannah have warned that no legislative moves should take place until everyone potentially affected could weigh the outcome.

In the Tuesday news release, Jackson recommended a "comprehensive study of the issue between now and the 2011 session of the General Assembly."

He also quoted heavily from an April 14 letter from outgoing Savannah City Manager Michael Brown. In it, Brown enumerates concerns about water and sewer services, drainage, public safety and more.

"They are very concerned about the negative impact that Garden City's annexation of the Southbridge community would have on the city of Savannah," Jackson said.

Water service, for instance, is currently provided in Southbridge by Savannah.

If annexation into Garden City were to occur, the two municipalities must strike a service agreement, and no such negotiations had begun, Marty Johnston, who directs special projects for the city of Savannah, said on Tuesday.

Petitions move forward

Marty Johnston added that petitions represent the preferable method of annexation, instead of the summertime referendums - which, she said, typically foster sparse turnouts - called for in Bryant's bill.

Annexation can take place if a municipality collects petitions from 60 percent of the registered voters and 60 percent of property owners.

"There is no reason for the state legislature to be involved in this decision," Marty Johnston said, adding that the petition process "is a much more democratic way to do this" and involves "the most representation to determine Southbridge's fate by its homeowners."

Brian Johnson said that, in light of Tuesday's development, the focus will shift solely to petitions, an effort he described as "grassroots."

He estimated that 40 percent of property owners and slightly more than 20 percent of registered voters had petitioned Garden City to annex.

"I'll go to Southbridge and make it very clear that their voice matters to Garden City," Johnson said. "The petition route still affords everybody the opportunity to say no.